Closed Chain Mobility: "Banded Hip Hinge"

Closed chain mobility is fixing the distal body segments such as the hands and feet and moving the proximal segments such as the pelvis and scapulae around the fixed extremities. This method of mobility allows for increased awareness of your body's tendency to compensate around limitations, while also building awareness of the musculature that needs to be active in order to better stabilize your position.

This video is a tutorial of "The Banded Hinge", in order to improve mobility and positional awareness into hip hinge, the foundational positional for deadlifting, as well as kettlebell swinging, cleaning, and snatching.

Closed Chain Mobility : Band Assisted Squat

CLOSED CHAIN MOBILITY: THE BAND ASSISTED SQUAT

Closed chain mobility is fixing the distal body segments such as the hands and feet and moving the proximal segments such as the pelvis and scapulae around the fixed extremities. This method of mobility allows for increased awareness of your body's tendency to compensate around limitations, while also building awareness of the musculature that needs to be active in order to better stabilize your position.

This video is a tutorial of "The Band Assisted Squat", in order to improve mobility and positional awareness into the bottom of a squat. This movement also helps to differentiate between a stable spinal position versus a mobile spinal position in the squat.

Closed Chain Mobility: Banded Shoulder Extension

Closed chain mobility is fixing the distal body segments such as the hands and feet and moving the proximal segments such as the pelvis and scapulae around the fixed extremities. This method of mobility allows for increased awareness of your body's tendency to compensate around limitations, while also building awareness of the musculature that needs to be active in order to better stabilize your position.

This video is a tutorial of "Banded Shoulder Extension", in order to improve mobility and positional awareness as the shoulders are held in extension.

Loaded Mobility - "The Windmill"

Loaded mobility is adding an external resistance to a movement in order to add stability, feedback and directional guidance to the position trying to be mobilized. Loads used for mobility training should be moderate in nature. Not so light that positional or directional feedback is not experienced, but not so heavy that muscle tension overpowers the intent of the stretch or mobilization.

This video tutorial is of the "Kettlebell Windmill" which uses a load (12kg) overhead to allow for feedback for an uncompensated shoulder position and directional guidance into thoracic rotation while the hip moves into internal rotation and adduction.

Heel Raise with Banded Talocrural Mobilization

RNT for Hips in Frontal Plane

This video demonstrates a reactive neuromuscular training for the hips in the frontal plane using a band. This exercise can be modified for the knees and ankles and it allows you to feel common compensations and use the resistance band to activate muscles that might not often be used.

Pressure Therapy Lateral Thigh and Glutes

The following video is a demonstration of the use of a pinky ball to allow for progressively increased tolerance to pressure density in the areas of the lateral gluteals and thigh.

Long Quadruped to Plank

This video demonstrates transitioning form long quadruped to a forearm plank.

This movement is valuable to help coordinate the inward compression of the abdominals with the engagement of the muscles of the "posterior seam" (glut.max., adductor magnus, hamstrings) when moving into a plank position.

In quadruped and plank positions, the weight of the internal organs provide resistance to this inward abdominal movement. Therefore, it is important that we progress gradually with how we enter into and how long hold our planks.

This exercise allows to focus solely on coordinating our exhale to the inward compression of the abdomen when transitioning from a position of less resistance (long quadruped) to a position of greater resistance (forearm plank).

The idea here is to only hold the plank as long as you can exhale, and to make sure that exhale moves the abdomen inward. You can then rest in between breaths to reset and try again.

Please comment with any questions you may have, and give the video a like and subscribe to the channel if you find the information useful.

Be well,

Chris

Side Hollow Body

This video demonstrates the side hollow body.

This movement is valuable to help coordinate the inward compression of the abdominals with the engagement of the muscles of the "posterior seam" (glut.max., adductor magnus, hamstrings).

In supine, gravity promotes resistance to the closure of the anterior ribcage during exhalation making inward compression difficult. In quadruped and plank positions, the weight of the internal organs provide resistance to this inward movement.

The sidelying position, on the other hand, allows for increased ease in compressing the abdomen inward due to its relationship to gravity. In this position, gravity and the floor assist the compression of the lateral ribs inward. While gravitational resistance to the inward movement of the abdomen is minimized due to its perpendicular relationship.

Please comment with any questions you may have, and give the video a like and subscribe to the channel if you find the information useful.

Be well,

Chris

Bent Knee Hollow Hold with Stability Ball

This video demonstrates the Bent Knee Hollow Hold using a stability ball for reference to engage the posterior seam of the body. This seam includes the adductor magnus, glut. max, and hamstrings.

These hip extensors balance the activity of the hip flexors that often wants to accompany the trunk flexion performed during hollow or crunch related movements in supine.

Please reach out with any questions you may have.

...and if you find the video useful please give it a like and subscribe to the channel.

Be well,

Chris

Mulligan Taping for Lateral Tibial Rotation

This video is a demonstration of a self Mulligan taping technique for lateral tibial rotation. It can be used when you have symptoms usually in the medial or lateral knee during knee flexion in activities such as squatting, walking, deep kneeling and running. Or, if you are experiencing an unstable or "twisted" feeling in the ankle or knee. The technique is used mainly as an assessment in order to see if a tibial rotation correction decreases the symptoms during the provocative movements. The video above demonstrates a lateral rotation technique but a similar technique can be applied for medial tibial rotation if that motion is found to have the most favorable effect on the provocative activities.

Banded Mobilization at the Subtalar Joint

This video is a demonstration of banded mobilization at the subtalar joint. This movement allows the joint to move from a posterior to anterior direction while doing heel raises.

Loaded Mobility Flow

The video above is an example of several individual loaded mobility interventions into one integrated flow. These movements include:

1. Open half kneeling lateral front squat
2. Half windmill
3. Open tall kneeling front squat
4. Front rack Z-Sit switch
5. Windmill
6. Reverse get up
7. Arm bar

Good Morning Variations

The video above is an example of a loaded mobility intervention in order to improve hip hinging. The following examples include a bar back position this movement is often referred to as a good morning exercise. The video demonstrates a narrow and a wide stance hip hinge with a mildly loaded bar kept in a back rack position in order to block compensations from the thoracic spine as well as add a loaded direction for enhancing the mobility of the movement.

Loaded Mobility: Forward Fold with Loaded Shoulder Extension

Active Warm-up for Athletes with Lower Back Pain

The video above demonstrates an example of an active warm-up for a young athlete experiencing lower back pain before they embark on their athletic endeavors.

Loaded Mobility: Overhead Hip Hinge Variations

Ground Mobility: Supine Variations

Movement Variability is the New Ergonomics

The amount of time that those in a civilized culture spend in a sitting position while doing computer work is a well recognized problem.

Often times well intentioned individuals attempt to remedy this problem by educating others on better sitting ergonomics such as a better work station where the static position that one maintains throughout the day allows for the best alignment and greatest amount of passive support. It turns out the research does not really support this model of remediation as being that valuable. In my estimation, this is due to the fact that the problem with sitting at a computer is not that we are sitting in an improper position but that we are in one position too long. Therefore, instead of attempting to optimize a position of stillness, movement professionals need to promote frequent positional change.

This video is an example of a physical therapist completing his paperwork while using the principles of movement variability as opposed to postural ergonomics.

The positions varied every two minutes include::

1. Poor man's half lotus
2. The Z sit
3. Hero's sit (heels together)
4. Toe sit (heels together)
5. Open Half kneeling
6. Half hero's sit
7. Prone on elbows half frog (myoball in abdomen)
8. Prone FABER frog
9. Prone FABIR frog
10. Tall kneeling
11. Half kneeling
12. Deep squatting

Scapular Depression with Alternating Tricep Extension

The tricep is an often overlooked shoulder extensor that is important for supporting scapular position. The movement demonstrated in this video trains the triceps as a shoulder and elbow extensor but more importantly also challenges the muscles that create and maintain scapular depression. Therefore, this exercise has little to do strengthen a specific muscle but instead focus on stabilizing a position. In this process muscles do get strengthened but not in isolation, instead in a manner that is valuable to postural function and can be transferrable to other tasks where anti-forward shoulder posture is desirable.